Death by Language

As I’m preparing for a panel discussion for the international student orientation on Wednesday afternoon, I have to think back to my own arrival on a US campus many years ago. In addition to all the new things I encountered on a daily basis, there was the challenge of language. I had learned English long enough to get by in everyday settings, but the academic register was a completely different game. There were familiar words used in a different kind of meaning; there were new words that I tried to translate via context, not knowing if I’d hit the right interpretation.

It certainly helped to be in a situation where there was no way out: I sat in graduate courses and had to complete papers just like anybody else. At the beginning, I was tempted to write the first draft in my native German, where the words and phrases would…